Gas container for airships



Aug. 7, 1928. l 1,679,564

w. E. DoERR E1' AL GAS lCONTAINER FOR AIRSHIPS Filed April 25, 1924 ATTORNEYS l Patented Aug. 7, 1928.

' UNITED STATES NPATiazNT'oFFlcrL I WILHELM E. DOERR, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AND ERNST A. LE-HMANN,`OF AKRON, OHIO, ASSIGNORS TO LUFTSCHIFFBAU ZEPPELIN GESELLSCHAFT MIT BESCHRNKTER HAFTUNG, OF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, BODENSEE, GERMANY.

GAS CONTAINER FOR AIRSHIPS.

Application ledkpril 23, 1924, Serial No. 708,327, and in Germany May 16, 1923.

Our invention relates to airships in which the buoyancy is produced by lifting gas,

and it has for its object the 'use of two difl within the cell of the heavier one, the'cellAv with the lighter gas may float in the heavier gas. lfVe will describe an ail-ship embodying our inventionand then point out the novel features in claims.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. '1 is alv longitudinal section of a rigid ail-ship fitted with gas cells or containers and embodying our invention. Figs. 2 to 4 are each cross-sectional views showing modifications, but each of them embodying our invention. y

Referring to the drawing, the 'hull of the airship is designated by a and may be any of the constructions well known in the art. b designates an outer cell andv c designates the cells provided within the cells b. The pairs of cells are arrangedwithin. the usual compartments provided witlii11\.the hull In the drawings we have shown e leven cells 7) and nine cells c. The cells c 'areomitted from the .end cells I) becauseoftheir limited capacity. l J i If helium and hydrogen gases are used, the outer'I cells Z) are inflated with:L helium, the heavier gas,while the inner cells e are inflated with the hydrogen gas. When the size of the inner cell or container c and its weight are properly chosen, the conditions of Fig. -2 will be met, that is to say, gass cell 0 will float in equilibrium within gas cell b. It will, however, be advantageous to provide means for holding the cell e in a certain positionas conditions of linflation 'and buoyancy will change with changes in the air surrounding the airship. means may be stays in the form of ropes, tapes, wires or the like z' (see Fig. 4) connected with the Walls Aof the inner cell and preferably extending through the wall of.

the cell bithrough gas-tight openings. The

Pref-- Such free ends of the stays may be fixed to adjacent parts of the hull. l

This arrangement may be useful in case of leakage of the outer cell. In this event the stays i may then be loosened and the inner cell moved to close-*or nearly closethe rupture in the wall of the-outer cell by the wall of the inner cell. l 4

If on a flight the gas cells have lost some of their contents, the lower part of their Walls tend, by their weight, to create an under-pressure within the cell. This disadvantage may, inA accordance with our invention, be decreased by the buoyancy ol' the inner cell carrying by means of the stays i the weight of 'the lower part of the wall of the outer cell. Suitable valves are provided for the outer cell and they may be arranged in the usual way. The inner cell 0 is provided with a suitable valved conduit Ve for the escape of the hydrogen to the atmosphere or to some furnace or even to one of the motors ofthe airship to be-burnt. ln case the escaping hydrogen is to be burnt, precaution will have to be taken to avoid ignition moving backwards from the motor through the conduit to the gas cell c. The

Avalves should be weighted in such a way that those" of the cell 'c open'at a comparatively lower pressure than those of the cell This gives the advantage of losing first thel inexpensive and less valuable hydrogen gas. And with adequate dimensions ol the two cells for the relative purposes of the ship it may in general be possible to avoid totally the escape of helium through the valves.

The arrangement of inner and outer gas cells according to our invention has the further advantage of enclosing the inflairmable hydrogen gas on all sides with the non-inflammable helium, so that about the same conditions regarding safety of the air* ship are .obtainable as if the ship had been inflated with .helium only, while the unavoidable loss of gas with longer flights is limited to the cheaper gas.

lVithin the cell c a bag gi'` (see Fig. 3)

may be arranged for the purpose of being inflated with air tlirough aconduit h, and

lthereby controlling the shape of the cells.

Such a ballonet g may as well be placed Within the outer cell b, or even -adjacent to it, giving the same effect. Besides it may,

serve for forcing lifting gas out ofthe cells-especially the inner -cellfor the purpose of making the ship heavier if necessary, for example, after a long flight.

We want it understood that we do not limit ourselves to theV examples udescribed orshown in the drawings-these pertaining especially to airships of the rigid type, as

many variations will'be apparent to those kind of-lifting gas; and means for laterally' moving said inner I container Within said vthe wall of 4said outer container.

outer container and for bringing into contact thev wall of said inner container with 2. An airship comprising an outer corr tainer inlatedwith one kind of lifting gas; a` smaller inner container inflated with an-l other kind of lifting J gas; said inner container on all sides being surrounded by said outer container; and an fair bag contiguous to said smaller container. Y

- 3; An airship comprising'an outer container inflated with one kind of lifting gas;

a smaller iimer containen inlated with a 30 second kind of 'lifting gas; and an airbag within said smaller container.

- WILHELMl E. DOERR.

'ERNST A. LEHMANN. 

